It's That Time of Year Again...

It's that time of year again. Time for college football. Now, I love college football. I don't follow it as closely as the NFL, but I enjoy watching it. The pageantry, the option. That's why I love college football.

As much as I love college football though, the first two or three weeks before conference play can be excruciating. Take last night, Thursday, August 30, 2007, for example.

Last night there were 11 games:

SE Missouri St. @ Cincinnati

Buffalo @ #16 Rutgers

Tulsa @ Louisiana-Monroe

Miami (OH) @ Ball State

Murray State @ #10 Louisville

#2 LSU @ Mississippi State

Southeastern Louisana @ New Mexico State

Kent State @ Iowa State

UNLV @ Utah State

Weber State @ #24 Boise State

Utah @ Oregon State

Looks like some pretty good games, right? Not so much. The winners (Cincinnati, Rutgers, Tulsa, Miami (OH), Louisville, LSU, New Mexico St., Kent State, UNLV, Boise State, Oregon State) outscored the losers 425-104. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, that's a difference of 321 points. Five hundred twenty-nine points were scored, translating to 48 points a game, and an average final score of 38-10. There were margins of victory of 63, 56, 49, 45, and 35 points.

The results (in case you didn't know) from each game:

Cincinnati 59, Southeast Missouri St. 3

#16 Rutgers 38, Buffalo 3

Tulsa 35, Louisiana-Monroe 17

Miami (OH) 14, Ball St. 13

#10 Louisville 73, Murray State 10

#2 LSU 45, Mississippi State 0

New Mexico State 35, Southeastern Louisiana 14

Kent State 23, Iowa State 14

UNLV 23, Utah State 16

#24 Boise State 56, Weber State 7

Oregon State 24, Utah 7

Some of those scores are ridiculous. It is so tiresome watching Louisville beat Murray State 73-10. Who scheduled that game?

I see these early games as a chance to pad stats for the Heisman hopefuls. Brian Brohm didn't come out of the game until he put the Cardinals up 56-10. What, 49-10 at halftime wasn't enough?

The only good game it seems was Miami (OH)-Ball State, in which Brandon Murphy of Miami (OH) scored the game winning touchdown with 17 seconds left in a conference matchup. Why can't they start the conference matchups sooner?

Despite easy opponents, some players still put up amazing stat lines:

Brian Brohm, Louisville, QB: 16/21, 375 yards, 4 TDs

Harry Douglas, Louisville, WR: 5 catches, 151 yards, 2 TDs

Mike Teel, Rutgers, QB: 16/23, 328 yards, 2 TDs

Ray Rice, Rutgers, RB: 25 rushes, 184 yards, 3 TDs

Tiquan Underwood, Rutgers, WR: 10 catches, 248 yards, 2 TDs

Paul Smith, Tulsa, QB: 22/31, 307 yards, 3 TDs

Brandon Murphy, Miami (OH), RB: 19 rushes, 123 yards, 2 TDs

Chase Holbrook, New Mexico State, QB: 22/31, 280 yards, 4 TDs

Ian Johnson, Boise State, RB: 18 rushes, 129 yards, 3 TDs

Yvenson Benard, Oregon State, RB: 29 rushes, 165 yards, 2 TDs

So that caps off Day 1 of NCAA Football. Hopefully, you come away with the opinion that something should be done about these "warm-up" games for the powerhouses. Thanks for reading.